Winter's Spell, page 26
She took another deep breath and closed her eyes. She tried to imagine the magic within her not like a well of water that could run dry, but rather like a river flowing through her, drawing energy from around her, or the ocean, whose waves crested and receded in an endless cycle.
That helped. The magic within her rose up, not as strong as earlier, but fuller than she expected. She concentrated her energy on the image of Roxy in the photo, and as the magic began unspooling beneath her fingers, the sounds of waves on shore filled her ears, the smell of the bay in her nose, and in her mind’s eye she glimpsed the moon and a lighthouse.
There were no images of a medical clinic, no sounds of medical equipment beeping or the familiar creaking of plastic chairs and shifting of bodies Tessa would normally associate with an urgent care clinic on a Saturday evening.
Somehow, Tessa wasn’t surprised. At this point, nothing could surprise her.
She concentrated her energy onto the lighthouse. It was familiar to her, and she urged her magic to bring the image into focus.
The lighthouse shimmered into focus just for a moment before the entire image disappeared. It looked like any number of lighthouses in the area, none of which were in a place where she would imagine Roxy going in the dark on a cold winter’s evening with Mo. Maybe the lighthouse was a symbol in her mind? She groaned. Tessa felt powerless for a moment, in spite of the magic that had so recently been flowing through her.
She tried to concentrate on the other things she’d seen and heard in her vision. The sound of waves. The moonlight. The rush of saltwater smell, sharp and brackish. Tessa felt sure that Mo and Roxy were on the beach in Provincetown, on the bay side. What they were doing there, she had no idea, and she didn’t have the wherewithal to make a guess, but she felt very certain that they were there, and that they were in trouble.
Just as she was about to leave to go find them, Chayo showed up. Tessa had been so focused on her vision, she hadn’t seen her best friend coming down the hallway toward her.
“What’s wrong? Where are you going?” Chayo didn’t waste time with pleasantries.
“I have to find Roxy,” said Tessa. “I think she and Mo are in trouble.”
“Is it connected to what happened here?” Chayo was always quick on the uptake.
Tessa nodded. “I think so. I don’t know how but I…feel it. Instinct.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Before Tessa could protest, Joy showed up. She took one look at Tessa in her coat and hat, and Chayo, who was putting hers on as well and said, “Wherever you’re going, take me too. I can’t stay in this place. I’ve changed my mind, Tessa. I think it’s definitely, one hundred percent haunted.”
“Fine,” said Tessa. She would need Joy’s help if there were three magicians to contend with. “Chayo, I need you to stay here in case they show up looking for us. Please.”
Tessa thrust the car keys at Joy, who knew Ptown the best of the three of them, and told her to drive them to the marina beach. Her hands were shaking, and she was filled with a sudden fear that they were too late—that Roxy and Mo were in the clutches of whatever power had destroyed fabric and wood like it was nothing. Her heart ached.
She couldn’t lose Roxy—not when she’d finally gotten her.
Chapter Twenty-five—Roxy
The beach was unimaginably cold. The wind was whipped up to a frenzy, with gusts that took Roxy’s breath away. Even Mo, who usually didn’t show signs of feeling the cold very much, was shivering. Was this another sign that her mermaid state was somehow…wearing off? Was that possible?
Again, the legends of the selkies sprung to Roxy’s mind. Those stories, though, seemed to suggest that as long as the selkie could get her “skin” back, she would return to her selkie state and leave behind her human form, so it wasn’t quite the same thing. Without their skin, they were mostly human—except in their mind, where they always remembered their former selves. Could that be similar to Mo’s situation?
The moon was huge in the sky, a giant glowing yellow-silver orb that lit up the whole bay, albeit unevenly. They were at the dog beach, since Roxy had figured that part of the beach would be safest from prying eyes, but still close enough to get to quickly and had twenty-four-hour access. It wouldn’t be suspicious for them to be there, even in the evening after dark.
Still, the place was creeping Roxy out. She’d brought the flashlight out of her car that she always kept there, but in the light of the moon, it didn’t do much. The moonlight was bright, but, as she always found with moonlight, it didn’t quite do the job she needed. It created strange shadows on the beach, especially here where the beach was wide and full of small tidal pools that were all too easy to step into.
The entire scene was all too reminiscent of the night when Roxy had saved Mo from the water—that had been a full moon too. Hazel, she remembered, had been so excited that their wedding would be New Year’s Day and a full moon to boot. It occurred to Roxy that perhaps Mo’s fading mermaid abilities had to do with the moon and the fact that she’d been out of the ocean for an entire moon cycle. Roxy had learned from Hazel the importance of the moon cycles to all magical beings, so the idea wasn’t so unlikely.
Finally, they made it to the edge of the water. A gust of wind blew off the bay like a knife through Roxy’s outer layers.
Mo looked at Roxy, her expression a mixture of fear and desperation. Roxy gave her a giant hug, squeezing her as hard as she could, even though she was also full of dread.
What would happen when Mo got into the water? Would thunder and lightning fill the air? Would a magical net catch Mo again—and what would that even look like?
She gave Mo some hearty pats on the back and shouted to her over the wind. “You’ve got this. Just be quick, okay?”
Mo nodded and began to undress, throwing her human clothes into a pile by their feet. Roxy picked them up so they wouldn’t get too wet and placed them a bit farther away from the shoreline.
When Mo was completely undressed, Roxy kept her eyes carefully on Mo’s face.
“It’s time. Get in fast, but stay close to shore so I can get you out if anything happens.” She looked around the beach, but it was quiet and empty except for the wind. Up in the sky, the moon was temporarily obscured by dark clouds that flitted across it and then disappeared again.
The wind settled for a moment, and Mo spoke, her voice strong, but with a slight tremor. “Wait, Roxy. This could be dangerous for me and for you.”
Roxy met Mo’s gaze. There was determination there now and something else almost like joy. Of course, thought Roxy, she was glad to get back into the water. It was her home after all.
Mo pulled at Roxy’s hands and pulled the gloves off awkwardly. She threw those on the ground too, and Roxy had to stop herself from protesting. Those were her best gloves—but never mind. This was clearly not the time.
Mo arranged their hands so they were pressed against each other, like little girls on the playground playing “Miss Mary Mack” or some other hand slapping game that, frankly, Roxy had never had the patience or interest to play as a kid. There was an intensity to the pressure Mo was using to press into her palms, and Roxy pressed back.
A jolt that passed between their hands, and Roxy had no idea if the jolt had come from Mo and into Roxy’s hands, of if it had come from Roxy’s hands into Mo’s. The second possibility was impossible, though, wasn’t it?
A look of satisfaction painted itself over Mo’s face. “I knew it,” she breathed, and she said something else in her own language.
“What?”
“You do have magic,” said Mo in English again. “I always knew it from the day we met.”
Roxy sputtered. “That’s…that’s not possible. I’m human. Just human.”
Mo shook her head slowly. “I can feel it inside you. Close your eyes.”
“Mo, you’re naked. Aren’t you cold? Shouldn’t you get in the water?”
“I’m fine. I can feel the water in the sand on my feet and it is already helping. I feel better. But I cannot go in that water unless I know you are ready. You must have your weapon ready.”
“My weapon?” Roxy’s mind was full of protest, but somewhere deep inside her, she felt rather than knew the truth of what Mo was saying. Something inside her had been sleeping until she met Mo.
Part of her could not accept it. She had to protest it—almost as if this was the only way she could accept the truth of Mo’s words.
“How do you know this isn’t just your magic, Mo?” said Roxy. “Mer—I mean, your people have their own magic. Like how you learned to speak English. And your tail and legs changing. Maybe you’re just giving me some of your magic?”
“Search your feelings, Roxy,” said Mo quietly but with intensity. She put a hand over Roxy’s heart and one on her forehead in a gesture that felt both strange but also strangely familiar. “Close your eyes. Feel the truth. Feel your power.”
“Mo, we’re wasting time. We’re out here, exposed—”
“Until I get into the water, we have as much time as we need,” said Mo reasonably. “Now. Please, concentrate. Don’t think. Simply feel.”
Roxy heaved a sigh and closed her eyes. Perhaps it was simpler to do what Mo asked of her. She’d been Mo’s guide to the human world; the least she could do was let Mo guide her where she was the expert.
At first, there was nothing, only darkness and the sound of the waves crashing around them, whipped up to larger than usual by the wind. She heard a lone bird in the distance and the sound of a car engine.
She was about to open her eyes and complain to Mo that they were wasting time, when she felt it. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure, but something shifted inside her—a strange but familiar sensation, something that had always been a part of her, but which she’d never known about or considered. At first, it was just a quick flutter, as of excitement, but soon it felt like the crackle of electricity, radiating from just behind her heart out through her fingers.
It was the same feeling she’d had when she’d seen Barb—a snap of power within her like lightning.
She opened her eyes wide and saw that Mo was still watching her carefully. Mo removed her hands from Roxy and instead extended an open palm to Roxy.
Gingerly, Roxy touched the palm with the index finger of her right hand.
A small discharge came off her fingers with a flash of bright light.
“What on earth…” Roxy was amazed. This was crazy. This was a dream. It had to be. She was just a human woman. She wasn’t magic. She couldn’t be. Could she?
The discharge was small and yet it made Mo’s hand clench into a fist, as if struck by a small bolt of lightning.
“Are you okay?”
Mo nodded. “Yes, it was a small one.”
“A small one what?”
“A small bit of your magical power,” said Mo. She said it as if it was the most logical thing in the world.
Roxy shook her head, still unable to grasp the meaning of this. “It’s winter. It must be static electricity.”
Mo smiled at her. “Please, Roxy. Consider. Did it feel like ‘static electricity’?”
Damn if she isn’t grasping sarcasm like a regular human now.
Roxy shook her head and tried to clear her mind. She closed her eyes, and this time, she felt the crackle of hot lightning in her hands immediately. The power was growing within her, as if it couldn’t be contained once she’d activated it. This was definitely not static electricity. This was not winter discharge of electrons. This was something else, something exciting and thrilling that Roxy did not at all have the wherewithal to make sense of at the moment.
“No, it doesn’t,” she said. “But what—?”
“Shh,” said Mo. “We don’t have time.”
“Oh, so now we don’t have time to discuss it?”
Mo shot her a look.
“Okay, okay,” said Roxy. “Fine. What now?”
“I’m going to get into the water. You are going to protect me. If any of the hunters come here, you must use your power.”
“What if you start to drown again?” said Roxy, suddenly filled with fear. Protecting Mo as a human woman was one thing…protecting her with magic against someone else’s super powerful magic was quite another. She felt panic rising up inside her like bitter bile. “How can I protect you with this power? I don’t even know how to use it. And what if I hurt you with it?”
This time, it was Mo’s turn to give Roxy a hug. Roxy was so distracted that she barely noticed that she was hugging a very naked and very beautiful mermaid on an empty beach at night in the wintertime.
Mo pulled away finally. “Use your heart. Your instinct. You know how to do that. Keep your eyes open and you will know what to do.”
Before Roxy could protest any more, Mo threw herself into the surf.
Roxy looked up and down the beach, toward the parking lot and then out at the water again. There was no one and nothing. She was alone on the beach, and Mo was, at the moment, nothing more than sea foam and spray.
Panic rose in Roxy yet again. Where was Mo? Was she hurt? Had she been pulled under by a strong current?
Before her thoughts could spiral out of control, Roxy spotted a bright blue-green tail in the water, larger than that of any fish Roxy had ever seen. A second later, Mo rose in the water, farther out in the Bay, and she smiled and waved at Roxy. She looked happy and relieved, like her old self again, full of confidence and joy, right before diving into the water again.
Roxy breathed a sigh of relief. Mo was back to her mermaid self. It was possible.
Moments passed, and Roxy scanned the beach again. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting. The sizzle of electricity? A thunderclap? The smell of sulphur and ashes?
Instead, there was nothing but the beach and sand and Roxy, alone with a pile of Mo’s clothing.
A few more moments passed, and Roxy felt tension mounting again. She scanned the water over and over, but the moon was covered in clouds again, the water impossibly dark, and there was no sign of Mo.
Roxy realized with a start that they hadn’t really made a plan beyond taking Mo to the water. Fuck. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Mo had tasked her with protecting her, but what if all their fears had been unfounded and Mo was simply free to go home? Maybe she was already halfway there. Roxy’s breath caught in her throat as she realized she’d been counting on seeing Mo again. She’d gotten used to having a roommate, even a weirdo like Mo who ate nothing but raw fish.
Roxy hadn’t thought about life after Mo, and she was surprised to realize she was genuinely going to miss having her around. But she supposed it was for the best. Mo was from another world, and she’d never really fit in with the human world, always missing her life in the water.
Disappointment rushed through Roxy, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. Mo had become a friend, and now she was gone without so much as a good-bye. Maybe their friendship had never truly been real; perhaps Mo had used her so she could get home.
Roxy picked up the pile of clothing off the beach and raised her hand to give one last wave. The wind had dropped, though the water was still in turmoil, but the moon was visible yet again, though higher and smaller than earlier.
“Good-bye,” said Roxy quietly, almost to herself, as she gave a wave to the spot in the water where she’d last seen a flash of Mo’s tail.
“Oh, don’t worry, my dear, I doubt this is good-bye,” said a voice behind Roxy.
Roxy whirled around, her throat gone completely dry with surprise and dread.
Only a few feet away on the beach, between herself and her car, stood three figures in black cloaks. One of the figures—the speaker, she had no doubt—had her hood pulled back somewhat so she could see her.
She was a beautiful woman of indeterminate age, hair so fiery red it looked dyed and yet, somehow Roxy knew immediately it was colored by magic. The woman’s features were sharp and well-defined, with dark black eyebrows and eyelashes so thick and black that they looked fake, but instinctively, Roxy knew that they weren’t. Or rather, they were magically enhanced.
The woman fixed her bright green eyes on Roxy, and her smile held no joy.
“Who the fu—” Roxy started to speak but was distracted when the woman held out her hand and on it, clearly lit up in the moonlight, was a rather large green ring in the shape of an eye. “Faustina Clerval?”
“At your service,” said the woman with an unpleasant cackle—high and grating. “So you’ve figured it out, have you? A bit too late for your friend, I’m afraid.”
Roxy’s mind raced. This woman didn’t look anything at all like the nondescript person described by Joy at the bar where they’d hung out just a few days ago. A few days ago—was that all it was? It felt like weeks.
Faustina was clearly a powerful magician who could perform a glamour. Maybe she was a vampire? Vampires could put on glamours as well. But Mo had been caught in a spell here on Cape Cod, and that didn’t sound like vampires at all. It was beyond the kind of magic Hazel would have usually done as well. But perhaps that was the benefit of working as a team?
Before she could speak, a sound behind her distracted her.
Roxy whirled back to the water and horror filled her as she saw Mo swimming to the shore—no, she was being dragged by an unseen power to the shoreline. Mo’s beautiful face was etched with pain even as she struggled with all her might to free herself of this invisible hand, but it was no use.
All too soon, Mo was thrashing on the sand near Roxy’s feet, her tail still intact. Roxy dropped to her knees but realized she wasn’t able to touch Mo. It was as though she were behind a piece of glass.
Mo’s eyes were wide with horror and fear; Roxy couldn’t tear her gaze away. Mo tried to say something to her, but Roxy couldn’t hear anything. She was terrible at lip reading, and the adrenaline pumping through her veins wasn’t helping. She couldn’t concentrate on anything except Mo. She had to help her….had to get to her. But how?
